Well lots of things have happened this week so I think this is going to be a bit of a long one so make sure you are sitting comfortably before reading any further!! As usual I will start with the stats for week 25 of the build up.....15.8km spent swimming, 465km cycling and 65km running.......all on the beautiful Big Island! Race day is now just under 2 weeks away so week 25 was the last of the big weeks - from here on in it is about absorbing the training and beginning the wind down to race day.
So I had a bit of a eureka moment on Wednesday whilst out cycling on the course! Perhaps of all the disciplines of swimming, cycling and running my anaemia has seemed to have impacted the cycling side of things the most. I have struggled to get in the cycling pain cave and stay there.....prior to the big DNF at the Capricorn Half Ironman a few flags that I missed to things not perhaps being quite right were a couple of average time trial results where I had managed to start off at a hard effort but had not been able to maintain it.....usually I can get the sofa out in the pain cave and lay on it for as long as required.....you learn that the pain will not kill you....although at the time you often question whether on this occasion it might........you do get through it.....but during those time trials I could only sit on the sofa for a fraction of the time and at the Capricorn Half Ironman I don't think I really even managed to get on the sofa!
Needless to say it has been a while since I have visited the cycling pain cave for any sustained length of time. I have had a few sessions over the last couple of weeks that have invited me to visit the cave......bike rides with some hard 20 minute efforts (using my powertap) thrown in. For the previous 2 weeks I have managed only a single effort during these sessions and had to pull the pin on that effort prematurely thanks to my body responding with a power chuck! Nice! I have always had a plan B for those rides which involved lowering the power of the effort and riding it more steady but it has been frustrating to have to settle for Plan B particularly so close to race day. This has therefore meant that poor Coach Tony has had to field several emails from a disgruntled me - fed up with the fact my haemoglobin is still in my boots and that my body keeps responding to any sort of hard effort on the bike with a puke!
However on Wednesday as I tucked into Plan A I was surprised to find that I was in the pain cave.....I was on the sofa......and wait for it.....there was no vomiting! Hooray! 1 down 3 to go......I felt sure that effort 1 may well have been a fluke but I knocked out the other 3 efforts and didn't feel to shabby on it! Well until the next day but that besides the point! So during those efforts I was learning how to hurt on the bike again.........remembering what it feels like to lay on that sofa and stay there. Now having found my cave again it is naturally tempting to see if on another training day I can remember where it is - to see if I can perhaps sit on the sofa for a bit longer or hurt a bit more - which is why having a coach is super crucial to keep you grounded and focused on the goal - which is ultimately the race! Spending time out here ahead of the race is an amazing opportunity to get to grips with the course and the conditions but it does come with a few sneaky pitfalls that could bite you on race day....the biggest of those is getting a little over excited in training - going too hard - trying to race the race in training instead of on race day. And so at the start of the week I received a gentle reminder from my coach not to leave my best effort out on the course in training.......and so I will need to wait to see if I can relocate my cave until race day.... and that is all dependent on whether my red blood cells are happy enough to let me hang out on the sofa in my cave for several hours or if they are having a day where the only sofa they are happy to sit on is the one in my condo!
On the swim front two exciting things happened this week! First of all my swim coach, Ali Boggs, arrived here on Thursday. Ali, an Ironwoman herself who has done battle with this course a couple of years ago, coaches both swimming and triathlon. Quite a few of her coached swim athletes like me are racing but more importantly one of her coached triathletes Pam is also racing! So thanks to Pam's athletic prowess and Ali's passion for both this event and the Big Island we get our swim coach and therefore some lessons out on the course in the ocean! Nice one! So I had my first Kona swim lesson on Friday and it felt good to have Ali around me again! She completely understands the effect my anaemia is having on my performance and she is what I would describe as a positive realist.......she knows that it simply is not a case of mind over matter or the power of positive thought that is going to grow me enough haemoglobin in time for race day......she will not base how she thinks I'm going to perform on race day on a single snap shot of what she sees in a 30 minute lesson.....rather she plants a little bit of confidence to lift my spirits with a simple statement such as 'you swam well today' - a statement that I can agree with and hold onto when the not so good swim days rock around!
The second exciting event on the swim front was a voyage out to the 2km buoy on the Ironman swim course! Now you may wonder why that is a particularly exciting event but if you saw the layout of the course you would understand......the first 1km has 3 white markers that you can head for to get you out to the 1km buoy and then there is nothing.......just lots of swirly water stretching out ahead of you! Now last year I had a few failed attempts at swimming in the vague direction of where I thought the 2km buoy was but never made it! It almost became like a hunt for the holy grail and at times I began to question if the buoy actually existed! So this year my strategy up until Saturday had been a little different! If I had a longer ocean swim to do I would swim out to the 1km marker - back into shore - and the out again - I was not going to fall victim to the hunt for the 2km buoy again......although naturally I was harbouring a secret desire to make it out there!!
And so on Saturday I had a longer ocean swim to chew through and the plan was to hit the 1km marker return to the pier and then head out again......the wind was up which meant the surf was up so when I reached the 1km marker I decided to have a quick breather before returning to the pier. At the previous marker I had picked up another Sugar Daddy.....I'm not sure why I seem to be attracting so many swim Sugar Daddies at the moment....nice enough Ozzie guy with some rather snazzy print swim trunks that made him easy to follow as we cut through the swells. So as we caught our breath and I began to bid farewell he asked why I wasn't swimming the course.......hmmmmm.....tempting offer from the Sugar Daddy! By a complete stroke of luck a kayaker overheard our conversation and offered to guide us out to the buoy and then even more luck....an awesome local swimmer Le Ann who was also at the buoy decided to join our expedition! So we were a party of 3 with a private Kayaker! Brilliant!
The swells were starting to get up so our Kayaker guided us further out from the shoreline where the swell wasn't quite so rough but the current was pretty strong to swim against! Now it quickly became apparent that I was the weakest link in the group but nobody seemed to mind that I was the tail end Charlie! Finally after some pretty tough swimming the 2km buoy was ahead and I could see Le Ann and Ozzie Sugar Daddy waiting for me! Hooray! So we all had a rest and a chat with our kayaker before taking on the return leg back to shore! We lost our Kayak guide pretty quickly into the return journey.....he picked up some other swimmers looking for the buoy and guided them out.....there is however more things to sight on the way back so I wasn't too concerned and of course I still had the snazzy print of Sugar Daddies togs to follow! The last portion of the swim was more like body surfing as the wind had got up even more (if that was possible) and the swell was pretty impressive! I was super relieved when my feet hit the sandy shore of the pier and it was reassuring to hear that Le Ann thought it was a little wild out there! So now I know that buoy does exist it would be good to get out there and find it again......with my new found swim buddies!
The run side of things have been good this week and I have ticked off a decent amount volume wise and got some quality runs in off the bike in the sun! I had a slightly unfortunate incident this evening when I went out to finish the last session of the week which was a run with some steady efforts thrown in (are you sensing a theme....). Anyhow I was originally going to head up to the Queen K but then at the last minute decided to keep it a little more local and run away from town on Alii Drive! After my longish bike earlier my legs were feeling a little bit worse for wear and Ali B had offered to sit on a deck chair and cheer me on as I ran past doing my efforts but I decided I was probably going to look a little special as it was and therefore declined the offer. I packed up my fuel belt bottle with some electrolyte.....I was feeling a bit dehydrated from the bike and although a little cooler in the evenings the humidity was still high and I knew I would get thirsty pretty quickly. I ran out to the point I usually start my interval session which is marked by a funky sign in the shape of a surf board....it has a couple of rocks around it which make a perfect little place to hide a drink bottle.....so I stashed my bottle and set about tucking into the first effort......an out and back that would see me finish at the surf board for a quick drink before starting effort number 2! I gave it a good nudge and sure enough towards the end of the effort I was thinking about how lovely my drink was going to taste......only to find when I got to my surfboard sign that it was gone :( I did a quick reckie to see if I could find it but came to the conclusion that it was gone for good and that the next 45 minutes were going to be thirsty work......and naturally I was wishing Ally B was sat in her deck chair guarding my drink bottles! Must find a new stash spot next week!!
In other run news I have given up on the new trainers.....I just can't get my feet use to the new inners Brookes have designed.....my foot arches are so sore if I run for over an hour so I'm back in my old ones and then I think it will time for a change of brand!!! Yikes!
More and more triathletes have descended this week which means that there is more human traffic out on the course and a fair bit of 'Tri Bling' around town! I cracked a smile today when cycling out on the Queen K - there are signs with the words 'Caution Athletes in Training' and I couldn't resist a quick piccie pitstop! Roughly translated I think that means 'Caution.....crazy individuals likely to be a little delirious in this area as they attempt to adjust to our climate and terrain......try not to run them over'.
That is probably enough rambles for one entry..........
So I had a bit of a eureka moment on Wednesday whilst out cycling on the course! Perhaps of all the disciplines of swimming, cycling and running my anaemia has seemed to have impacted the cycling side of things the most. I have struggled to get in the cycling pain cave and stay there.....prior to the big DNF at the Capricorn Half Ironman a few flags that I missed to things not perhaps being quite right were a couple of average time trial results where I had managed to start off at a hard effort but had not been able to maintain it.....usually I can get the sofa out in the pain cave and lay on it for as long as required.....you learn that the pain will not kill you....although at the time you often question whether on this occasion it might........you do get through it.....but during those time trials I could only sit on the sofa for a fraction of the time and at the Capricorn Half Ironman I don't think I really even managed to get on the sofa!
Needless to say it has been a while since I have visited the cycling pain cave for any sustained length of time. I have had a few sessions over the last couple of weeks that have invited me to visit the cave......bike rides with some hard 20 minute efforts (using my powertap) thrown in. For the previous 2 weeks I have managed only a single effort during these sessions and had to pull the pin on that effort prematurely thanks to my body responding with a power chuck! Nice! I have always had a plan B for those rides which involved lowering the power of the effort and riding it more steady but it has been frustrating to have to settle for Plan B particularly so close to race day. This has therefore meant that poor Coach Tony has had to field several emails from a disgruntled me - fed up with the fact my haemoglobin is still in my boots and that my body keeps responding to any sort of hard effort on the bike with a puke!
However on Wednesday as I tucked into Plan A I was surprised to find that I was in the pain cave.....I was on the sofa......and wait for it.....there was no vomiting! Hooray! 1 down 3 to go......I felt sure that effort 1 may well have been a fluke but I knocked out the other 3 efforts and didn't feel to shabby on it! Well until the next day but that besides the point! So during those efforts I was learning how to hurt on the bike again.........remembering what it feels like to lay on that sofa and stay there. Now having found my cave again it is naturally tempting to see if on another training day I can remember where it is - to see if I can perhaps sit on the sofa for a bit longer or hurt a bit more - which is why having a coach is super crucial to keep you grounded and focused on the goal - which is ultimately the race! Spending time out here ahead of the race is an amazing opportunity to get to grips with the course and the conditions but it does come with a few sneaky pitfalls that could bite you on race day....the biggest of those is getting a little over excited in training - going too hard - trying to race the race in training instead of on race day. And so at the start of the week I received a gentle reminder from my coach not to leave my best effort out on the course in training.......and so I will need to wait to see if I can relocate my cave until race day.... and that is all dependent on whether my red blood cells are happy enough to let me hang out on the sofa in my cave for several hours or if they are having a day where the only sofa they are happy to sit on is the one in my condo!
On the swim front two exciting things happened this week! First of all my swim coach, Ali Boggs, arrived here on Thursday. Ali, an Ironwoman herself who has done battle with this course a couple of years ago, coaches both swimming and triathlon. Quite a few of her coached swim athletes like me are racing but more importantly one of her coached triathletes Pam is also racing! So thanks to Pam's athletic prowess and Ali's passion for both this event and the Big Island we get our swim coach and therefore some lessons out on the course in the ocean! Nice one! So I had my first Kona swim lesson on Friday and it felt good to have Ali around me again! She completely understands the effect my anaemia is having on my performance and she is what I would describe as a positive realist.......she knows that it simply is not a case of mind over matter or the power of positive thought that is going to grow me enough haemoglobin in time for race day......she will not base how she thinks I'm going to perform on race day on a single snap shot of what she sees in a 30 minute lesson.....rather she plants a little bit of confidence to lift my spirits with a simple statement such as 'you swam well today' - a statement that I can agree with and hold onto when the not so good swim days rock around!
The second exciting event on the swim front was a voyage out to the 2km buoy on the Ironman swim course! Now you may wonder why that is a particularly exciting event but if you saw the layout of the course you would understand......the first 1km has 3 white markers that you can head for to get you out to the 1km buoy and then there is nothing.......just lots of swirly water stretching out ahead of you! Now last year I had a few failed attempts at swimming in the vague direction of where I thought the 2km buoy was but never made it! It almost became like a hunt for the holy grail and at times I began to question if the buoy actually existed! So this year my strategy up until Saturday had been a little different! If I had a longer ocean swim to do I would swim out to the 1km marker - back into shore - and the out again - I was not going to fall victim to the hunt for the 2km buoy again......although naturally I was harbouring a secret desire to make it out there!!
And so on Saturday I had a longer ocean swim to chew through and the plan was to hit the 1km marker return to the pier and then head out again......the wind was up which meant the surf was up so when I reached the 1km marker I decided to have a quick breather before returning to the pier. At the previous marker I had picked up another Sugar Daddy.....I'm not sure why I seem to be attracting so many swim Sugar Daddies at the moment....nice enough Ozzie guy with some rather snazzy print swim trunks that made him easy to follow as we cut through the swells. So as we caught our breath and I began to bid farewell he asked why I wasn't swimming the course.......hmmmmm.....tempting offer from the Sugar Daddy! By a complete stroke of luck a kayaker overheard our conversation and offered to guide us out to the buoy and then even more luck....an awesome local swimmer Le Ann who was also at the buoy decided to join our expedition! So we were a party of 3 with a private Kayaker! Brilliant!
The swells were starting to get up so our Kayaker guided us further out from the shoreline where the swell wasn't quite so rough but the current was pretty strong to swim against! Now it quickly became apparent that I was the weakest link in the group but nobody seemed to mind that I was the tail end Charlie! Finally after some pretty tough swimming the 2km buoy was ahead and I could see Le Ann and Ozzie Sugar Daddy waiting for me! Hooray! So we all had a rest and a chat with our kayaker before taking on the return leg back to shore! We lost our Kayak guide pretty quickly into the return journey.....he picked up some other swimmers looking for the buoy and guided them out.....there is however more things to sight on the way back so I wasn't too concerned and of course I still had the snazzy print of Sugar Daddies togs to follow! The last portion of the swim was more like body surfing as the wind had got up even more (if that was possible) and the swell was pretty impressive! I was super relieved when my feet hit the sandy shore of the pier and it was reassuring to hear that Le Ann thought it was a little wild out there! So now I know that buoy does exist it would be good to get out there and find it again......with my new found swim buddies!
The run side of things have been good this week and I have ticked off a decent amount volume wise and got some quality runs in off the bike in the sun! I had a slightly unfortunate incident this evening when I went out to finish the last session of the week which was a run with some steady efforts thrown in (are you sensing a theme....). Anyhow I was originally going to head up to the Queen K but then at the last minute decided to keep it a little more local and run away from town on Alii Drive! After my longish bike earlier my legs were feeling a little bit worse for wear and Ali B had offered to sit on a deck chair and cheer me on as I ran past doing my efforts but I decided I was probably going to look a little special as it was and therefore declined the offer. I packed up my fuel belt bottle with some electrolyte.....I was feeling a bit dehydrated from the bike and although a little cooler in the evenings the humidity was still high and I knew I would get thirsty pretty quickly. I ran out to the point I usually start my interval session which is marked by a funky sign in the shape of a surf board....it has a couple of rocks around it which make a perfect little place to hide a drink bottle.....so I stashed my bottle and set about tucking into the first effort......an out and back that would see me finish at the surf board for a quick drink before starting effort number 2! I gave it a good nudge and sure enough towards the end of the effort I was thinking about how lovely my drink was going to taste......only to find when I got to my surfboard sign that it was gone :( I did a quick reckie to see if I could find it but came to the conclusion that it was gone for good and that the next 45 minutes were going to be thirsty work......and naturally I was wishing Ally B was sat in her deck chair guarding my drink bottles! Must find a new stash spot next week!!
In other run news I have given up on the new trainers.....I just can't get my feet use to the new inners Brookes have designed.....my foot arches are so sore if I run for over an hour so I'm back in my old ones and then I think it will time for a change of brand!!! Yikes!
More and more triathletes have descended this week which means that there is more human traffic out on the course and a fair bit of 'Tri Bling' around town! I cracked a smile today when cycling out on the Queen K - there are signs with the words 'Caution Athletes in Training' and I couldn't resist a quick piccie pitstop! Roughly translated I think that means 'Caution.....crazy individuals likely to be a little delirious in this area as they attempt to adjust to our climate and terrain......try not to run them over'.
That is probably enough rambles for one entry..........
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